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Topic: neutral safety switch (Read 2371 times)

Not getting any power to the starter solenoid. So Im thinking check the ignition switch or neutral safety switch. This is a dash mounted shifter, I don't see anything like a NSS under the dash. Follow the cable down to the transmission. Nothing there either. I see a connecting rod coming off of the linkage that goes into the tranny, just hanging there. It looks like there are two bolt holes in the tranny, not sure dirty and dark. I look up around the bell housing, there is a bundle of wires with a connection recepticle with nothing conneced. The connector is about the diameter of a quarter, two horizontal, two vertical female slots. One of the horizontal is heavier wire, red, has power when I turn the key.

Unless I'm blind and missed some hidden NSS, is this where it should go? I looked online at the auto parts shops, but they only had what appeared to be column mounted NSS. Am I on the right track here? If this is my problem, where would I purchase one? I have looked online for a 1982 P30 shop manual, but no luck. Safety wise, I wouldn't operate drive this thing, but assumming this is the NSS plug, can I cross the recepticle wires to get the motor running? If so, how? Hopefully, I not barking up the wrong tree!!

Back to the stater solenoid power issue: there are two wires involved - the big wire that carries the current to the starter and the small wire that activates the relay. Which one has no power? The smaller wire gets power when the ignition key closes the start circuit and the NSS prevents that from happening if not in neutral/park. Power on the big wire to the solenoid comes direct from the battery and should always be present.

Sure you can jumper around the NSS or even the entire ignition switch to see if solenoid works and the engine cranks.

Try ebay for a manual. When looking for a P-series service manual on Ebay, don't search on P30 only. It may be listed as P3, P32, P30 or just Chevrolet chassis. Does not have to be that specific year either, since the P-series chassis did not change much in the 80's.

Try an ebay search for Chevrolet chassis manual P (with no numbers after the 'P'). I just did it and found a 1980 P chassis manual that way. Or leave the 'P' off as well and you will get a lot more hits, but some will not be relevant.

Starter wise, the first thing I did was pull the starter. hoping agains hope it was a simple starter replacement, no go. Grounded the starter and hooked up the main power and jumped to the smaller wire and the starter worked. When I turn the key, I have no power to the smaller bolt/wire on the starter solenoid. Constant power to the big nut/wire from the battery. After checking for loose/bad connections under the hood, a lot of info pointed to a likely problem with the ignition switch or the NSS. Thats how I ended up hopefully narrowing it down to the NSS.

With regard to that, what first made me notice it, it was the only clean surface under there. Like something that was plugged into it was gone. Its laying on the bell housing, and appears to come off of the same wires bundle from the starter. This offshoot, with the recepticle, will not reach the transmission linkage, or the transmission itself john. It is about 2-3 feet short of where the unhooked connecting rod is. In my wishful thinking, I can see a NSS bolted to the side of the tranny, this rod on the linkage, hooks into the NSS, (the rod "pivots" when I run through PRNDL) and possibly the NSS is hardwired with a two foot section with a male connector on the end!! haha!! that's my fantasy anyhow. a guy can dream cant he??? regardless, that rod hooks into something, and that something is not there. if anyone has their NSS on the transmission like this, I'd appreciate knowing if I am on the right track.

Thanks for the search tips. NEVER have seen so much stuff pop up in my searches.

Check the voltage on the pins of that mystery connector. If it's the NSS you should have 12 volts on one pin ONLY when you turn the ignition switch to start. If it's there, the other pin should run to the small terminal on the starter. Set your multimeter to Ohms and confirm this by touching one lead to that pin and the other to the small starter terminal.

well, previous to lou's post, I did jump a couple of those connectors. What do ya know, the starter started cranking!!

The motor didn't start, not really expecting it to right away. Its been sitting for years. I assume the gas in it is bad. Any suggestions for getting a motor, that's been sitting there for years, running? Any priority things that need to be taken care of before hand?

Also, that connector has four wires, I jumped the top right horizontal with the bottom right vertical. Will it be ok to try to run the motor not having the other wires attatched? Thanks for any input.

The other wires are most likely the back up lights Since that's the same switch that powers them

Now, on to the next problem.. The motor.. If it is a gas engine you should have pulled the plugs and fogged it before you cranked it... If it's diesel same thing but I don't know how to fog one of those.

Other than that... A complete cleaning of the fuel system,, That means a carb rebuild if it has one or injector cleaning, Blow out the lines, drain the tank and re-fill with fresh fuel.

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Nothing adds excitement like something that is none of your businessMy Home is where I park it.

The P- Series is famous for ignition switch problems. That was my first thought when I started reading your post. If you jumpered something to make the starter turn over, it's still possible that the ignition was not on. Here are a couple of links about the ignition switch.